What indicators or information on sustainable development have proven to be most useful for assessing gaps and progress towards sustainable development? Please rank according to importance with 1 = most important. Please also attach or provide a web link to relevant statistical databases.

Based as far as possible on these indicators, please provide an assessment of the progress made towards sustainable development over the past 18 years (1992-2010), (a) at the level of the country(ies) or regions of interest to your group, where relevant and (b) globally. Please attach any relevant technical studies or policy analyses. For each input, kindly provide the original article or url, and enter a short abstract.

At the gobal level: In 2010, humanity is now the driver of change at the planetary scale. The ecosystems and planetary processes upon which we depend for water, food, health, energy and clean air are under serious pressure. Science and indicators tell us that the rate of global environmental change, including climate change is outpacing our response, and thus our current path is unsustainable. Humanity has reached a point in history, at which, if unchecked or unmitigated, these global changes will increasingly undermine development prospects and cause significant human suffering associated with hunger, disease, migration and poverty

Has your country / organization / the country(ies) or region(s) of interest to your group introduced or promoted integrated planning and decision making for sustainable development? If so, under what title (NSDS, PRSP, Five Year Plan, NCS or NEAP, Other)? What are the lessons from this experience?

The Scientific and Technological Community considers integrated planning and decision making essential for progress in sustainable development, regardless of the different tools (titles) used by countries.

Question 6

Are there examples of strong public-private partnerships for sustainable development in your country / the country(ies) or region(s) of interest to your group? How have these been promoted?

Implementation of NSDSs and similar tools (strategies and plans) must be given a much higher political/policy priority and allocations in the national budgets should be in conformity with these strategies and plans. For example, invested in science and technology for sustainable development must be significantly stepped up.

Question 11

What further actions could be taken to promote effective voluntary actions and partnerships?

At country and local levels, there should be continuous campaigns promoting voluntary actions and partnerships pursuing sustainable development. For instance, the nine "major groups" should come together at country level and promote effective joint voluntary actions and partnerships among them

Risks

Question 12

What are the risks to sustained progress towards convergence among the three pillars of sustainable development?

There are so many risks; their number is much too long to list them all here. The business-as -usual economic model represents an overarching risk, together with lack of political will, of public understanding, of financial resources and of a critical mass of sustainable development-minded scientists, engineers, educators, and many other professions.

C - Addressing new and emerging challenges

Experiences

Question 1

What five new and emerging challenges are likely to affect most significantly the prospects for sustainable development in the coming decade? Please rank in order of importance.

(1) To identify urgently and not to transgress sensitive threshold levels ("boundaries) of key variables critical to Earth's life supporting processes (eg. carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere; ocean acidification).
(2)To develop adaptation strategies needed for reducing vulnerability to global environmental change, with particular attention to most vulnerable societies and people.
(3)To develop better prediction capability and an enhanced knowledge base on how climate will change at regional level over decadal time scales, and to develop regional adaptation strategies, including issues, such as: coastal zones; water security; ecosystem services and food security; desertification, and tourism.
(4)To buffer the impact of climate change on ecosystem services. What kind and levels of biodiversity are needed to this end? How to increase food production, while maintaining ecosystem services? How to manage water resources, taking into account increasing water demands and a looming global water crisis?
(5) To identify and to introduce those change in economic systems (going beyond the green economy approach) which would contribute most to the transition towards sustainability. How could these changes be achieved? What is needed to catalyze the adoption of appropriate economic, behavioural and institutional changes? How to resolve full implementation of the MDGs in this context?

In addition to addressing the objectives and topics already agreed upon for UNCSD, the world community and leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 should regnize three specific new and emerging challenges to be acted upon in the decade after 2012:
(1)Science tells us that humanity has reached a point in history where it is at risk of damaging some planetary biophysical preconditions for human development. Crossing certain biophysical threshholds ("boundaries") could have disastrous consequences for humanity. We must not transgress these "boundaries". To this end, we must first identify and quantify them.
(2) Science and the state of the planet tell us that many societies and hundreds of millions of people are exposed to a high level of economic, social and environmental vulnerability. The world community must help the most vulnerable societies and people.
(3) Our existing knowledge provides afirm basis for vital immediate actions needed in pursuit of global sustainability, in the conomic, social and environmental domains. However, we will need far more information and understanding, as well as more human and technological capacity, to truly solve the interconnected problems that global environmental change and inequitable socio-economic develpment pose for our societies.
More precisely, UNCSD should decide on (i) the principle of launching an international programme for the most vulnerable societies and people affected by global environmental change, including first the develoment of adaptation strategies needed for reducing vulnerability; and (ii) establishing a mechanism which would provide a science-policy making link on the issue of sensitive threshhold levels ("boundaries") of key variables critical to the Earth's life supporting processes, other than climate change in the atmosphere (climate change). In this regard, UNCSD should call on governments to support a major new decadal research and higher education initiative on "Earth system science for global sustainability", integrating natural, social and human sciences.

Success Factors

Question 6

What steps have been taken or are under consideration in your country / organization/ the country(ies) or region(s) of interest to your group to enhance these success factors?

Global science organizations, in cooperation with governments and relevant UN system organizations are taking bold steps to enhance very significantly the delivery of data, information and understanding on these challenges and on solutions. However, these efforts woefully lack the necessary financial investment.

Challenges

Question 7

How can the link between scientific research, education, and policy be strengthened to address the new and emerging challenges, especially those identified above?

The following measures would need to be implemented, as quickly as possible, at national, regional and international levels:
(i) steering sustainability research towards greater policy relevance, by conducting truly integrated social and natural sciences research and by a greater focus on social and environmental vulnerability of societies and and people.
(ii) more focused efforts of delivering knowledge on sustainability problems and their solutions to policy processes, using mechanisms such as scientific assessments, establishing scientific advisory panels and institutionalized "round table" processes, involving key stakeholders, such as scientists, technology experts, policy makers, specialists from government agencies, as well as >ngos and practicioners from various sectors.
(iii) Communicating scientific information, knowledge and "processes" to the media and the general public, with a key role to be played by professional science communicators. A critical mass of science communicators will be needed in each country.
(iv) Including courses in sustainability science and education in the university curricula of law professionals, economists, business managers, sociologists, political scientists, etc.
(v) Making education for sustainable development part of school curricula at all levels, as well as in lifelong learning. To this end, a critical mass of well trained educators in this field will be required in each country.

Risks

Question 9

Do the new and emerging challenges pose a fundamental risk to the prospects of economic growth and development in the country(ies) or region(s) of interest to your group?

Yes, they do. At the national and regional scales, the level of risk will, of course, vary, in particular between developed and developing countries and regions. These challenges also pose a fundamental risk at the global level.

Question 10

How can the risks to the poor and other vulnerable populations be addressed?

It is very important that specific targeted strategies and programmes be developed for addressing the situations of the most vulnerable societies and people. UNCSD should decide on the principle of launching an international programme of support for the most vulnerable societies and populations, starting with the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies needed for reducing vulnerability to global environmental change.